All the footage of Quentin Tarantino interviewing Cirio H. Santiago had to be cut from the final finished version of the film.
Mark Hartley originally wanted to use the song "Long Time Woman" by Pam Grier for the opening credits, but the rights to this song proved to be too expensive.
This film started out as a documentary on Weng Weng by filmmaker Andrew Leavold. By 2007, Leavold assembled enough footage to show a rough cut and gained the attention of local producers, who bought it and credited Leavold for his original idea as the basis for Mark Hartley's Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010), a documentary about cult films made in the Philippines. Leavold was hired on as an associate producer. The film was well received, but since it only mentioned Weng Weng briefly, it left Leavold unsatisfied. Leavold negotiated with the other producers of Machete Maidens Unleashed! so that he could finish his documentary. He launched a successful Kickstarter campaign and released The Search for Weng Weng in 2013.
This is a list of the films that are commented on or analyzed in the voiceover or by the interviewees. The list is in chronological order. The main films referenced in the documentary are: Terror Is a Man (1959) Brides of Blood (1968) The Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1969) Beast of Blood (1970) The Losers (1970) Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) The Big Doll House (1971) Women in Cages (1971) Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) The Big Bird Cage (1972) The Hot Box (1972) The Twilight People (1972) The Woman Hunt (1972) Beyond Atlantis (1973) Black Mama White Mama (1973) Fly Me (1973) Savage! (1973) Savage Sisters (1974) Cover Girl Models (1975) T.N.T. Jackson (1975) Ebony, Ivory & Jade (1976) Hollywood Boulevard (1976) The Muthers (1976) They Call Her Cleopatra Wong (1978) Vampire Hookers (1978) Apocalypse Now (1979) Dynamite Johnson (1979) Up from the Depths (1979) Firecracker (1981) For Your Height Only (1981) The One-Armed Executioner (1981) The Impossible Kid (1982) Invaders of the Lost Gold (1982) The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989)